It sounds like something from a spy novel: scientists linked to the Chinese military complex working at UK universities on sensitive technologies, which can be used for weapons development by the Chinese Communist party.

Except, this is no novel. This is very much reality. New research uncovered by Civitas has revealed that there are at least 60 individuals from tech and defence conglomerates in China, in addition to military-affiliated defence universities, who have either worked alongside UK universities or who are even formally associated with them.

This figure includes at least two active members of the Chinese army (the People’s Liberation Army) who are still working at two separate British campuses, alongside many others who were previously listed at army organisations.

These scientists, engineers, professors, and post-graduate researchers were all involved in research collaborations with some of the UK’s leading universities, and have all worked in the past year.

They have developed unmanned aerial vehicles and drone swarming capabilities; targeted sensors and target recognition technology; hypersonic technology and launch vehicle capabilities; and military-grade steels. Each one of the projects has a specific military application.

The threats to our national security for allowing these partnerships to continue are twofold; first, the CCP routinely engages in technology transfer and intellectual property theft, leaving UK universities with no understanding of the potential beneficiary – the Chinese military complex. In fact, several UK universities have collaborated with Chinese defence partners or PLA-linked universities who are on the US Entity List – which designates organisations which are national security threats.

The second threat to British national security lies in the CCP’s strategy of ‘civil-military fusion’, where civilian research and technology is used for military ends. This is a core component of Xi Jinping’s stated desire to equal the US militarily by 2027; an outcome far more likely to see Taiwan fall to mainland China.

So what we now have are Chinese scientists and researchers, linked to PLA-funded universities and defence conglomerates, working either at UK universities or alongside them on the dime of the British taxpayer, researching technology which could be used by the Chinese military. In some cases, they will return to communist China, helping the country to become the global military hegemon.

Little wonder that both the UK Home and Foreign Offices refused to answer our requests for information regarding the number of Chinese nationals granted UK visas for studying sensitive technology at our universities.

This is even more alarming considering that the Home Office strengthened the visa application process for such research only last May. The gaps in their net must be vast.

Despite a steadily growing awareness by successive governments of the threats posed to Britain, more work is clearly required to safeguard against the CCP. Part of the problem here is the sheer number of Chinese nationals wishing to study and conduct research at UK universities. UK universities are still all too agreeable to Chinese money – a legacy of David Cameron’s disastrous ‘golden era’ of relations between Britain and China.

Chinese students should not be barred from studying at British universities. But common sense would be to ensure a ban on visa applications from individuals affiliated to the PLA, and on those working at any of China’s PLA-linked universities and defence conglomerates.

This must be the baseline at least. Our national security depends on it.